cetanewz issue 004 - home - cetanz
TRANSCRIPT
As we fast approach another spring Earthworks
season, we all prepare for the hard work ahead.
A changing financial and business environment
provides us with new challenges to work
through and to develop our business accord-
ingly.
We are fortunate to have CETANZ moving vigor-
ously through the some of the areas of our busi-
ness that have fallen by the wayside in previous
years. Our Technical working group has started
into the national proficiency programme with
results currently being collated. Our Society
Activities working group has worked tirelessly to
organise our conference which has been a re-
sounding success. Last but not least our Careers
and Training group has been assisted by work
through IPENZ and Infratrain to look at profes-
sional registration and a qualification in labora-
tory testing.
The conference has been a great forum for us to
all come together. We had papers from a variety
of speakers including Dr Nick Smith, MP , vari-
ous technical and business presenters and of
course we all had fun at the dinner. The confer-
ence was well attended generally by manage-
ment and senior staff and we look forward to
providing a forum suitable for the whole spec-
trum of staff in 2010. A special thanks should go
to our sponsors, especially Coffey Informa-
tion, our platinum sponsors. We must not
forget to thank our friends who travelled
from Australia, we appreciate your atten-
dance and input and we look forward to at-
tending an Australian conference.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
thank you for your participation in our AGM
with nominations of suitable candidates for
our committee and voting for your prefer-
ences. Please remember, CETANZ is there to
provide its members with value, we need
your help to achieve this goal.
Thanks to our departing committee mem-
bers……
We need to say thank you to Claire Lay-
bourne of Beca for her hard work as confer-
ence convenor and Society Activities leader.
Claire is moving on to new challenges in Aus-
tralia with her work. A big thank you also
goes to Brigitte Sargent of Geotechnics who
has provided CETANZ with services as Man-
agement Secretray over the last 2 years, we
hope to still see Brigitte involved with
CETANZ in a minor capacity.
And welcome to our new committee mem-
bers…..
We welcome Jenny Dingley from Beca and
Eric Paton from Fulton Hogan. It is great that
we have a full committee motivated and
ready to work on our goals for the coming 2
years.
All the best for the coming season, it was
great to meet many of you at our conference.
From the Chair
Issue 004, September 2008
CETANewZ
In this issue...
• From the chair
• News from the groups
• Gear Focus -
Vibrating Hammer
• Test Focus -
Atterberg Limits
• Member Profiles
• Science & Technology
crossword
• Standard Alert!
• Situations Wanted
• Situations Vacant
The official newsletter of the Civil Engineering Testing association of NZ
ISSN 1178-5888
From the working groups...Society Activities
Page 2 CETANewZ
Conference Report - CETC2008
Langham Hotel, Auckland
The centrepiece of CETANZ developments was held in
Auckland on 24-26th
September 2008. Over 100 people
registered for the event with over 90 people in most of the
presentations.
The event kicked off on the Wednesday evening with wel-
come drinks and a chance to meet colleagues in a relaxed
environment. We were very fortunate to have great back-
ing with financial sponsorship and trade stands. It was clear
to see that our platinum sponsor, Coffey Information, had
risen to the occasion providing all sorts of promotional
equipment suitable for our site work.
The main event was to start on the Thursday as the early
arrivals strained to recover from a late night, or was it an
early morning? Our conference convenor, Claire Lay-
bourne, set the scene and introduced our keynote speaker
Dr Do Van Toan. I was very im-
pressed with his presentation as it
clearly provided an insight into
how the testing community is
closely integrated into major engi-
neering projects. There were of
course some light hearted visits to
some particularly challenging pro-
jects from his career highlights.
The day continued on with breakout sessions for separate
disciplines such as Geotechnical, Roading, Concrete and
General Lab. These were all well attended and provide us
with some great technical knowledge from some our col-
leagues. I was impressed with the variety of topics and
would have liked to have attended more….but time is lim-
ited.
Our first day finished off with very informative presenta-
tions from Keith Towl of IANZ fame and Joanne Crackett
from MAF. A great day of learning and great efforts from
the presenters.
An AGM for CETANZ was held with an election of the new
committee and then it was a bit like herding cats as we all
made our way to The Bluestone Rooms for an evening of
socialising and amusement. It was great to catch up with a
variety of old and new faces and then to hear Ginette Mac-
donald provide us with her angle on Civil Testing. If I re-
member correctly, mentions of likening us to the Wiggles
at one point gave us something to ponder.
A rousing start to the Friday with Vic O’Connor looking at
the past and providing us with some ideas for the future
followed by Hon. Nick Smith MP. The organising committee
did not provide Nick with any brief for his presentation and
I personally thought that he provided us with a great over-
view of how he (and National) thought the areas of testing
and Standards should be developing in the future. Whether
this happens…we’ll find out on November 9th
!!!!
The rest of Fridays presentations came from Transit, Road-
ing NZ and we were fortunate to have Allen Bartlett from
Australia. As CETANZ look at how we can develop our Ca-
reers and Training, it was great to hear how our friends
from across the ditch are handling their industry.
It was great to have Bryan Pidwerbesky (one of CETANZ’s
great supporters) from Fulton Hogan talk to us about recy-
cled materials being used for roading projects and we
closed out the day with a Panel discussion with questions
from the floor.
We must say a big Thank You to Claire Laybourne and Beca
who have supported Claire and Cetanz in this venture. The
sponsors and trade stands made this event possible for our
industry to develop and we look forward to the next event.
Last but not least, the attendees deserve a big thank you
for making the event so successful, especially our Austra-
lian friends who travelled over and continue to be a part of
our success.
At present most of the time and re-
sources of the group is directed to-
wards planning and running the Profi-
ciency Rounds, but please feel free to
contact the Technical Group with any
technical enquiries or comments you
might have. [email protected]
NZ Vib Hammer Test Method Review
As many of you will be aware 34 New
Zealand Laboratories are participating
in the
CETANZ NZ Vibrating Hammer Profi-
ciency Round. Results are being col-
lected by George Ball of OPUS and
laboratory identity is controlled by
Keith Towl of IANZ. All testing should
be completed and submitted before
the end of August. Once all the data is
collected George will start the analysis
process, around the 8th
of September,
working towards a report for CETANZ
that hopefully will be distributed to
participants before the start of the
conference.
Thanks to all those who have partici-
pated and to George and Keith for
their tireless effort and contribution.
Benkelman Beam Proficiency
In Mid June 9 Laboratories took part in
the CETANZ Benkelman Beam Profi-
ciency, Auckland Round. 3 Sites were
selected based on their stable nature,
and 10 tests were carried out on each
spot by each Laboratory’s Beam Truck.
Data has been collected and is cur-
rently being analysed in preparation
for a report.
Again, thanks to all those Laboratories
that took time out from their busy sched-
ules to be a part of the Trial Proficiency
Round, and a special thanks to Steven
Anderson of Geotechnics for organising
and coordinating the round. All going
well, more Benkelman Proficiency Rounds
will be organised for your area next year.
CETANZ Proficiency Testing Program
The next Proficiency Rounds that are in
the planning stage are:
Soils …………. Plasticity and Linear Shrink-
age. Coordinated by John Evans at OPUS
Auckland.
Aggregates …….. Weathering Quality In-
dex and Crushing Coordinated by Steven-
son Laboratory.
Future Rounds will require participating
Laboratories to contribute to covering the
cost of running the program and distribu-
tion of samples. A participation fee will
need to be paid before samples can be
sent.
The Technical Group are keen to organise
more rounds, but we need your help.
Anyone who is interested in Coordinating
and Preparing samples should contact me
at Stevenson Laboratory.
Aggregates and Quarry Association
(AQA)
Recently I was invited to sit on the re-
formed AQA technical committee repre-
senting CETANZ and Aggregate Manufac-
turers.
From the working groups...Technical
Page 3 Issue 004, September 2008
“The
Technical
Group are
keen to
organise
more
rounds,
but we
need your
help.”
Page 4 CETANewZ
Aggregate and Quarry Association vice-president Jason Lowe says the AQA wants to ensure it keeps a watching brief over any developments that may have an impact on the aggregates industry and its members. The responsibility for this more pro-active approach has seen the reconstituting of an AQA Technical Committee.
Its task is to proactively offer advice and
assistance on projects involving aggre-
gates, R&D, members’ technical issues,
Aggregate Standard reviews and develop-
ments.
“We want to work more closely with
other industry bodies that have synergies
with our industry, to provide and share
research and information,” said Jason
Lowe.
These organisations include the Civil Engi-
neering Testing Association of New Zea-
land (CETANZ), Cement and Concrete As-
sociation (CCANZ), the New Zealand
Ready-Mix Association (NZRMCA), Road-
ing New Zealand, and the New Zealand
Transport Agency (formerly Transit and
Land Transport) .
Jayden Ellis
CETANZ Technical Group Leader
I’ve no doubt that many of us over the last few
weeks have enjoyed the Olympics held in Beijing.
And I’m also sure that most of us were amazed
with the military-esque precision that the games
we’re run in.
It is also quite apparent that we have witnessed
one of the most hypocritical games ever! By this I
mean that we exposed the world’s best athletes to
an environment that was equivalent to smoking 70
cigarettes a day – this even beats my grandmoth-
ers’ record of 50 fags a day, and I can assure you
that she couldn’t even walk a 100m, let alone run
it under 10 seconds!
Some would say that the atmosphere during the
games was translucent rather than transparent.
Somehow the games managed to set over 30 new
world records, and maybe this is a reflection of
human society and the fact that we may whinge
and moan, but in general, we just get on with
things.
This brings me rather neatly on to the ‘NZ Vibrat-
ing Hammer’. How? I hear you say…..well it works
a little like this. In NZ most roads are built to a
density which is determined by a standard test
known as the vibrating hammer. Some of us will
be well aware that this test is riddled with prob-
lems and this test sets the benchmark for the con-
tractor. This to me, reflects something that is simi-
lar to the atmosphere in Beijing….translucent
rather than transparent.
I talk to many contractors in my day-to-day role
about compaction and I often hear the same
things….”we managed to achieve a 110% - isn’t
that brilliant”. But the question is a 110% of what?
It also goes the other way too where some con-
tractors find it difficult to achieve 95 – 98% com-
paction and in some cases will actually over com-
pact the road to achieve this target density.
We potentially have quite a significant problem.
Many contractors in this country do not know
how a lab generates OWC and MDD, where
MDD values tend to form the benchmark for
field compaction.
The contractor at this point can be at the mercy
of the lab, and, like the Beijing Olympics, have to
work within this environment. And like the ath-
letes’, many of our contractors ‘just get on with
it’ and do the best they can. And, in some cases
they may ‘break records’ by achieving more than
the lab density which many contractors will
think is great – they get the gold medal ! But if
one looks at this it could simply be down to the
fact that the lab that did the testing may have a
lighter hammer than the other lab down the
road. Or it can go the other way too.
If you want my advice, take an interest in this
test and other tests that your lab may be in-
volved in. Understand the ‘Standards’ for these
tests and the tolerances involved with
‘calibrated’ gear. By doing this you are helping
the industry as a whole and improving communi-
cation between all sectors of our industry
But don’t worry, CETANZ are on the case and our
technical group, headed by guru Jayden Ellis, are
highlighting these problems with a vision to
change things for the better.
By Stuart Moulding
2008 Beijing Olympics and the Vibrating Hammer
Page 5 Issue 004, September 2008
Page 6 CETANewZ
The test focus for this issue is the set of stan-
dard tests that determine a soils ‘Atterberg Lim-
its’ or how cohesive soils (or cohesive fractions
of aggregates) behave under different moisture
regimes.
Here goes…
The Atterberg limits are a basic measure of the
nature of a fine-grained soil. Depending on the
water content of the soil, it may appear in four
states: solid, semi-solid, plastic and liquid. In
each state the consistency and behavior of a soil
is different and thus so are its engineering prop-
erties. Thus, the boundary between each state
can be defined based on a change in the soil's
behavior. The Atterberg limits can be used to
distinguish between silt and clay, and it can dis-
tinguish between different types of silts and
clays. These limits were created by Albert Atter-
berg, a Swedish chemist. They were later re-
fined by Arthur Casagrande.
Plastic limit
The plastic limit (PL) is the water content where
soil starts to exhibit plastic behavior. A thread of
soil is at its plastic limit when it is rolled to a
diameter of 3 mm and crumbles.
Liquid limit
The liquid limit (LL) is the water content where a
soil changes from liquid to plastic behavior. The
original liquid limit test of Atterberg's involved
mixing a pat of clay in a little round-bottomed
porcelain bowl of 10-12cm diameter. A groove
was cut through the pat of clay with a spatula,
and the bowl was then struck many times
against the palm of one hand.
Casagrande subsequently standardized the ap-
paratus and the procedures to make the meas-
urement more repeatable. Soil is placed into the
metal cup portion of the device and a groove is
made down its center with a standardized tool.
The cup is repeatedly dropped 10mm onto a
hard rubber base until the groove is closed for
13 mm (½ inch). The moisture content at which
Test Focus - Atterberg Limits
Did you know...
“The plasticity
index (PI) is a
measure of the
plasticity of a soil.
The plasticity
index is the size of
the range of water
contents where
the soil exhibits
plastic properties.
Page 7 Issue 004, September 2008
it takes 25 drops of the cup to cause the
groove to close is defined as the liquid limit.
Another method for measuring the liquid
limit is the Cone Penetrometer test. It is
based on the measurement of penetration
into the soil of a standardized cone of spe-
cific mass. Despite the universal prevalence
of the Casagrande method, the cone pene-
trometer is often considered to be a more
consistent alternative because it minimizes
the possibility of human variations when
carrying out the test.
Derived limits
The values of these limits are used in a
number of ways. There is also a close rela-
tionship between the limits and properties
of a soil such as compressibility, permeabil-
ity, and strength. This is thought to be very
useful because as limit determination is
relatively simple, it is more difficult to de-
termine these other properties. Thus the
Atterberg limits are not only used to iden-
tify the soil's classification, but it also allows
for the use of empirical correlations for
some other engineering properties.
Plasticity index
The plasticity index (PI) is a measure of the
plasticity of a soil. The plasticity index is the
size of the range of water contents where
the soil exhibits plastic properties. The PI is
the difference between the liquid limit and
the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL). Soils with a
high PI tend to be clay, those with a lower
PI tend to be silt, and those with a PI of 0
tend to have little or no silt or clay.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atterberg_limits
Page 8 CETANewZ
Page 9 Issue 004, September 2008
Page 10 CETANewZ
Member Profiles
This issue….Ross Lambert from Fulton
Hogan Waikato
What is your current position, who
do you work for and briefly describe
your role?
I am the Assistant Laboratory man-
ager for Fulton Hogan Ltd, Waikato
Branch. My role includes manage-
ment of the technical and IANZ re-
quirements for the laboratory and
training of staff. The laboratory offers
testing services for Aggregates, As-
phalt, Bituminous Materials, Soils and
Field testing. The range of testing ser-
vices includes foam bitumen and road
surface friction testing.
How do you see CETANZ benefiting
your business?
I see that CETANZ can provide a forum
for the exchange of ideas. It gives the
presentation of an industry wide ap-
proach and can also act as an inde-
pendent body that can organise inter-
lab testing over a wide spread of labo-
ratories
How many gold medals will NZ win
at the Olympics in Beijing?
I am not sure how many gold medals
we will win. All the competitors de-
serve a medal for the time and effort
put into their training though.
If you could invite 3 people to din-
ner (dead or alive) who would
they be and briefly why?
All three I would invite to dinner are
dead so there’s probably no great
benefit in going into why
Arthur C. Clarke The First Clarke Law states, 'If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong.'
Standard Alert!
Want more info ….. go to
www.standards.co.nz and click on
the “Public Comment” Tab. Here
you can download the draft version
for an 8 week period and submit
your comments.
Page 11 Issue 004, September 2008
The following standards are up for
review…….
DR008037 CP: Revision of AS
2341.27-1996 Methods of testing
bitumen and related roadmarking
products – Part 27 Determination of
sedimentation.
New Zealand guideline for sampling
and mix design testing for stabilisa-
tion of pavement layers :
With the release of the TNZ B/5:
“Specification for In-Situ Stabilisation
of pavement layers” in mid 2008 the
New Zealand Stabilisation Working
Group (SWG), a sub-committee of the
Roading New Zealand’s Pavements
committee, decided that this guide-
line has become the highest priority
on the to-do list. The guideline will be
presented by Thorsten Frobel at the
CETANZ conference in September.
CETANZ and the AQA will be making
official comment on this guideline,
please forward any comments or en-
quires you have to CETANZ.
From the Editor… CETANewZ is the voice for our industry. If you would like to con-tribute in any way to this publication by way of adverts or articles - drop us a line at [email protected]
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Page 12 CETANewZ
Situations Wanted
Name:
Sanga Palu
Phone:
(09) 257 71161 or 0273 818 209
Nationality:
New Zealander
Date of birth:
11/08/59
__________________________________________________________
Qualifications:
1. NZ School Certificate
English, Mathematics, Science,
Biology
2. NZ University Entrance
Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Physics
3. NZCE (Civil)
4. City & Guilds Certificate
(Concrete Technology & Construction)
5. Diploma in Quality Management
__________________________________________________________
Work History: 1. Ministry of Works (Tonga)
October 1980 - February 1987
May 1988 - February 1989
Positions Held: Technical Officer & Road Foreman
Duties:
Laboratory testing of soils, supervi-
sion of technicians & labourers in
Civil Engineering works.
2. Winstone Aggregates
February1994 – Sept 2008
Positions Held:
1994 – Laboratory Technician
1995 – Laboratory Supervisor
1996 – Laboratory Manager
Another new section for CETANewZ! If your in the market for a new job, here is you chance to be heard Cheap too…..free for mem-bers and only $50 for non-members
Page 13 Issue 004, September 2008
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Page 14 CETANewZ
Situations Vacant
Yet another new section for CETANewZ! If your lab or workplace has any employment opportunities that you would like to advertise to our members and newsletter recipients, then drop us a line at [email protected] P.O.A
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z.org
.nz
Auckland Laboratory Business Manager
Winstone Aggregates is New Zealand’s leading aggregate producer and
sand extraction company, with operations throughout the country.
We have a great new role for an Auckland Laboratory Business Manager,
who under the general direction and guidance of the national technical
manager will develop the Auckland Laboratory by managing its technical,
commercial, administrative and testing functions and to implement a
culture of continuous improvement to achieve high levels of operational
excellence.
You will be responsible for the development of the overall laboratory
strategy, external marketing initiatives, financial accountability, imple-
mentation of lean laboratory principles and the day to day delivery of a
quality testing service.
Based in Papakura, at the Hunua Quarry you will need a relevant tertiary
qualification, practical experience in aggregate and soil material testing
and have managed a successful laboratory in a commercial environment
and be a natural leader.
Here is your opportunity to work for a market leader and build part of an
already successful business. As part of the Fletcher Building group of
companies, we can offer excellent benefits and long term career oppor-
tunities.
Please apply online www.fbcareers.com or contact Susan Carter at
Fletcher Building Recruitment on 09 525 9473